1. Field
This disclosure generally relates to the field of language interpretation. More particularly, the disclosure relates to multi-channel language interpretation.
2. General Background
Many current emergency response systems provide users with the ability to request emergency response services such as police, medical, and firefighting services in the event of an emergency via voice based communication technology. For instance, a user in an emergency situation typically utilizes a telephone to place a call to a public safety access point (“PSAP”) to request such services. The PSAP is a call center that receives the telephone call from the user, routes the telephone call to a PSAP call taker that speaks with the caller to determine the necessary emergency services in addition to other information pertinent to the particular location and emergency, and dispatches the corresponding emergency services to the caller. As an example, the caller can place a telephone call to a predefined telephone number such as 911 to speak with a call taker at a PSAP such as a 911 call center.
Such current emergency response systems may only provide voice communications based upon a particular language. For example, the PSAP call taker may only speak English. The caller in the emergency situation would then have to speak English to communicate with the PSAP call taker in such configurations. As a result, a person that has Limited English Proficiency (“LEP”) would not be able to communicate effectively with a PSAP call taker. Therefore, the LEP may or may not receive the necessary emergency services in time to stop the emergency situation.
Further, voice based emergency response systems are limited in their applicability. For instance, a user that may be capable of providing a voice based communication may not be able to provide such a communication in the particular emergency situation. As an example, a user in a hostage situation is prevented from providing a voice based communication. Thus, such a user with access to a mobile device may not be able to request emergency services. In addition, a user that has a voice disability is prevented from providing a voice based communication.
Therefore, current voice based emergency response systems are not adequate for providing communication for those users speaking a different language or those users for which voice based communication is not feasible based upon the particular context of the emergency situation or a particular disability. Such deficiencies in current voice based emergency response systems may prevent effective dispatching of emergency services in emergency situations.